A heart rate monitor is really two devices. One is the transmitter, which is generally (though not always – as we shall later discuss) worn around the chest. Commonly, the actual transmitter area is made of flexible plastic, to which is attached an elasticated strap that passes around your back to hold the device in place just below the bust. When putting on the chest strap, it is often a good idea to wet the electrode areas that are in contact with the chest. This ensures that the best signal is picked-up from the outset. As you workout, the sweat will do the job nicely for you The chest strap feels a little uncomfortable to start with, though it becomes less noticeable in time. There are a couple of accessories that can help women in this respect.
The second device is the receiver which is built into specialist wrist watches, or into some gym cardio machines – such as treadmills, cross-trainers and stationary cycles.
The advantage on the cardio machines is that it is easy to keep an eye on the current heart rate reading on the machines LED display. Some cardio machines cycle the displayed information with other data such as calorie count, unless you “lock” the display.
My experience is that people who have a magazine sitting on their display panel are
a) not measuring their heart rate, and
b) probably not working hard enough!
Though I do have a sneaking admiration for anybody who’s eyesight is good enough to be able to focus on a magazine article while running, it’s probably no coincidence that they are nowhere to be seen in the gym within a few months of starting their program.
There are a good number of heart rate monitor watches to choose from. I was not aware of any at the time I began training, but I am certainly now aware that there are an increasing number of women’s heart rate monitor watches available.
One thing to be aware of is that heart rate monitor’s are subject to interference, which can lead to occasionally inaccurate readings. If you see your heart rate jump fifty beats a minute while running through a field of microwave towers, this is probably not cause for concern (though I would question your choice of running route). On a cardio machine, a more likely source of interference may be the person on the machine next to yours. They may also be wearing a transmitter and may be within range of your equipments receiver.
Some watches may be “paired” with your transmitter, which prevents interference from others using transmitters near to you. The “pairing” is only usually necessary when you use the watch and monitor strap combination for the first time, and it is a trivial task.
The more expensive watches are mini-computers that can keep a whole raft of data during and after your workout. More on this in a future article.
In my next articles I’ll describe how my mentor found my “resting heart rate” and how he used this information to calculate my initial workout plan.
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